I thought I'd share my water pump removal and replacement adventure with
everyone, plus give a link with a couple photos of the Carryall in it's
current state of completion.
Here's the photos:
http://www.webworldinc.com/johnson/Wc53/index.htm
A full restoration site is in the works. I took photos almost every day,
so the progress is pretty well documented.
As for the water pump...
I received several posts telling me I could get the pump off without
removing the radiator, but most also suggested I remove it anyway so I
could check the water distribution tube while I had the water pump out.
The radiator had been rebuilt the year before I bought the truck and the
cooling system cleaned out at the same time, so I took a chance on the tube
being ok and left the radiator in place. I drained most of it to avoid a
big puddle, but I was relieved not to have to remove the front clip.
I painted the new water pump a light gray to match the engine and left it
in the sun to dry.
My radiator has a fan shroud, so I had to remove the fan from the water
pump first, a tight spot, but the 1/4 drive socket fit and the fan came off
ok. The pulley is held to the pump by the four fan bolts, but you can't
get the fan out until the pulley has been removed, so I set the fan inside
the fan shroud, leaning up against the radiator, and worked the pulley off
the pump. Now the fan could be slipped out. Then loosen the generator and
remove the belt. Then removed the radiator hose, and upper connection to
the thermostat housing. Three nuts hold the water pump to the engine and
there was clearance to fit the air socket in there so they came off
quickly. Some gentle tapping with a rubber mallet and the old pump came
off. I quick check with a mirror showed the water distribution tube was in
good shape. (As far as I could see anyway.)
I cleaned up the mounting surface, applied some gasket sealer and the new
gasket then went to put the new water pump on. This is where things
started to go wrong. The three studs didn't quite fit the new pump
housing. No problem, just grab the drill and open the offending bolt hole
up a bit on the pump. One hole didn't do it, and after repeated fittings I
ended up opening all three holes and grinding a bit off the base of the
housing to get the thing to fit. My gasket sealer had dried out during all
this and I had to carefully pull the gasket back off and clean the sealer
off it and the motor.
Now I learned I had a bigger problem. The stud on the passenger side of
the engine was too short for the new water pump. I compared the old pump
to the new, and sure enough, the casting was different at this point, a
good inch thicker on the new pump. The stud would need to be replaced with
a longer one, or a bolt. I found the vice grips and tried to persuade this
stud to come out of the block. No deal. It wouldn't budge.
I looked the new pump casting over and decided that if I was careful, I
could use the bench grinder to remove enough of the casting to expose the
stud. I started grinding away. I made good progress, almost to the point
that the stud was exposed when I punched through to the interior chamber of
the pump! After making a couple comments about the pump's linage, I
managed to resist the urge to toss the thing across the garage and took a
little brake.
Well, I knew it was not advisable to weld a casting, but the hole was small
and I figured I had nothing to lose. If it didn't work I could try JB
Weld, or just get a new pump. I wasn't going to grind any more casting
away however, and the stud still wasn't exposed, so I would just have to
get the stud out after all. I found the vice grips and a pair of leather
gloves. Tightened down the grips to the point I thought they'd break, and
low and behold the stud gave first. I backed it out and hunted up a bolt
to fit. To avoid the bolt going too deep and dimpling the cylinder wall, I
had to hunt quite a bit, but found one that would do the job.
Then I fired up the MIG and welded up the hole I had made in the pump. It
seemed to work fine... who knows what I did on a metallurgical level, but
it's holding water so... we'll see.
I re-applied my gasket sealer and gasket, tightened everything down and
decided to call it a night so the sealant could set up. Well, the upper
connection to the thermostat housing has a gasket on it too, and I figured
I should seal it also so it could set up overnight. The gasket came in a
separate bag, and in that bag was a bolt that I hadn't paid much attention
too. Sure enough, same thread pitch and exact length needed to replace
that short stud. I decided the bolt and pump must have a common linage,
and said as much.
The pulley and fan are a pain to line up and bolt back together with the
radiator in place, but once the first bolt is in the other three go easily.
But it works, and hopefully will for a long time.
Chris Davis
MVPA# 20000
Lake Forest, CA
'42 WC53 Carryall
'66 M274A2 Mule
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